Traditional chicken: the new venture from Copas

A small production run of dry-plucked, game-hung broilers will hit the shops at Christmas and test the Copas family’s belief that there’s a market for a ‘very, very special chicken’. Philip Clarke reports

The Copas family has a reputation for producing some of the finest Christmas turkeys money can buy – and a trophy cabinet to prove it.

So it is a bit of a surprise to visit the Berkshire-based business to spend a morning looking at broilers.

But the move into chicken – or “very, very special chicken” to borrow the company’s catch phrase – is as much an exercise in logic as it is in branding.

“There are several reasons why we are diversifying, but one of the most important is to spread overheads and stay competitive,” says youngest sibling, Tom Copas. “We have the most fantastic processing facilities here at Kings Coppice Farm, but it is only used for one month a year. This year it is 12 years old, which effectively means we have had just one year’s use out of it.”

Accepting that the company’s dry-plucked turkeys are never going to compete on cost with commercial turkeys, the hope is that the chicken will be rolled out into a year-round product, so making better use of the processing capacity available.

But of course that will depend on how well they go and the initial launch, involving about 2,000 birds, is timed for this Christmas.

“We are mainly targeting our existing customers, in particular smaller butchers and local restaurants,” says technical manager Ed Hurford who is spearheading the new venture with Mr Copas. “We will see how it goes, but we plan to take on a second crop in the New Year to hit the Easter trade.”

The pair believe there is a market for dry-plucked, game-hung chicken for special family occasions – in particular because it offers a lighter alternative.

“There is still good demand for our turkey, but increasingly people are asking for cuts or crowns,” says Mr Copas. “We plan to finish these broilers at about 2.5-3.5kg dressed weight, which will fit them into the lower weight categories, making them more affordable.”

He also believes that the product will be unique. “There are plenty of people out there doing free-range chicken, but none of them are doing it quite like us, using methods which go back over 100 years.”

The key is in the plucking and the hanging. Earlier this year the family trialled a number of different techniques, including wet-plucking and hanging for two days before eviscerating, as well as dry-plucking and hanging for seven, 10 and 14 days.

“The problem with wet-plucking is that the water adds to the bacteria levels, which adversely affects the meat,” says Mr Copas. “With dry-plucking, the birds can be hung for longer and the enzymes in the gut then slowly start to break down the protein, which enhances the flavour. In taste tests we found that the best flavour was achieved after 14 days.”

The pair admit they have an education job on their hands, persuading the public of the merits of game-hung, dry-plucked chicken.

“It is well understood that beef left to age for 28-32 days is a far superior product. We’ve just got to get people to realise that the same principle applies to poultry,” says Mr Copas.

Production methods for Copas chickens

The Copas family has a reputation for producing some of the finest Christmas turkeys money can buy – and a trophy cabinet to prove it.

So it is a bit of a surprise to visit the Berkshire-based business to spend a morning looking at broilers.

But the move into chicken – or “very, very special chicken” to borrow the company’s catch phrase – is as much an exercise in logic as it is in branding.

“There are several reasons why we are diversifying, but one of the most important is to spread overheads and stay competitive,” says youngest sibling, Tom Copas. “We have the most fantastic processing facilities here at Kings Coppice Farm, but it is only used for one month a year. This year it is 12 years old, which effectively means we have had just one year’s use out of it.”

Accepting that the company’s dry-plucked turkeys are never going to compete on cost with commercial turkeys, the hope is that the chicken will be rolled out into a year-round product, so making better use of the processing capacity available.

But of course that will depend on how well they go and the initial launch, involving about 2,000 birds, is timed for this Christmas.

“We are mainly targeting our existing customers, in particular smaller butchers and local restaurants,” says technical manager Ed Hurford who is spearheading the new venture with Mr Copas. “We will see how it goes, but we plan to take on a second crop in the New Year to hit the Easter trade.”

The pair believe there is a market for dry-plucked, game-hung chicken for special family occasions – in particular because it offers a lighter alternative.

“There is still good demand for our turkey, but increasingly people are asking for cuts or crowns,” says Mr Copas. “We plan to finish these broilers at about 2.5-3.5kg dressed weight, which will fit them into the lower weight categories, making them more affordable.”

He also believes that the product will be unique. “There are plenty of people out there doing free-range chicken, but none of them are doing it quite like us, using methods which go back over 100 years.”

The key is in the plucking and the hanging. Earlier this year the family trialled a number of different techniques, including wet-plucking and hanging for two days before eviscerating, as well as dry-plucking and hanging for seven, 10 and 14 days.

“The problem with wet-plucking is that the water adds to the bacteria levels, which adversely affects the meat,” says Mr Copas. “With dry-plucking, the birds can be hung for longer and the enzymes in the gut then slowly start to break down the protein, which enhances the flavour. In taste tests we found that the best flavour was achieved after 14 days.”

The pair admit they have an education job on their hands, persuading the public of the merits of game-hung, dry-plucked chicken.

“It is well understood that beef left to age for 28-32 days is a far superior product. We’ve just got to get people to realise that the same principle applies to poultry,” says Mr Copas.